#for reference the cow is the one estelle milked to feed the baby

[innerchorus]

I finally managed to get hold of the results from the Arslan Senki character popularity poll! (They were actually in the March issue of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine but I only just sourced a download for it.)

1st - Arslan (1559 votes) 2nd - Daryun (1026 votes) 3rd - Farangis (730 votes) 4th - Narsus (721 votes) 5th - Elam (418 votes) 6th - Gieve (287 votes) 7th - Alfarid (201 votes) 8th - Hilmes (176 votes) 9th - Irina (71 votes) 10th - Estelle (42 votes) 11th - Azrael (21 votes) 12th - Andragoras, Guiscard, Rajendra (13 votes each) 15th - Soroush, Tahamenay (12 votes each) 17th - Isfan, Kishward (10 votes each) 19th - Jaswant, Merlain (9 votes each) 21st - Kubard (8 votes) 22nd - Zandeh, Jimsa (6 votes each) 24th - Sam (5 votes) 25th - Kharlan (4 votes) 26th - Patius (3 votes) 27th - Zaravant (2 votes) 28th - Innocentis, Ilterish, Vahriz, Shapur, Tus, Tokhtomysh, Snake King Zahhak, the cow from the 12th volume (1 vote each)

So, those are the results, and there are some surprises (and some downright baffling choices further down the list). The Top 10 is more or less what I would have predicted, though not quite in the order I expected aside from the top two positions (I thought Hilmes would be higher, assumed Narsus would place 3rd over Farangis, and hadn’t realised Elam was popular enough to rank 4th...).

Bodin received 0 votes (thank goodness) but 13 people voted for Andragoras? And that means he is more popular than characters like Jaswant, Kishward, and Kubard?

I’m pleased that a handful of people voted for Sam and Kharlan (and that they’re next to each other in the list). Patius is the highest-ranked character who wasn’t pictured / named in the voting list, meaning that 3 people specifically wrote in to vote for him. I feel like Zaravant would have placed higher if this poll took place after the most recent chapter. One person voted for Shapur, who also wasn’t listed, and that warms my heart, but at the same time he is tied with Zahhak and a cow, ahaha.